246 replies to this topic

[Emergo]

From what I have read from the first post of this topic, this contest sounds very interesting and challenging. The deadline is only a few weeks away now. Let's see what excellent parks we get from this contest.

^ Yeah.... such a pity RCTtom that you did/could not enter this one!!!
For in this contest there is a huge focus on the rides and on the layout of the park ( which I think is your big interest and specialty, although I don't know where I can find any work of you? )

But....architecture and scenery etc. will also be taken into account, so this one is a real challenge, as well for the "ride/park layout lovers" as for the "architecture-lovers", for I guess the park that was able to have the best combination of these two things makes quite a chance, meaning, I think, that if normally one only focusses on rides/layout, or one only focusses on "beauty/archy", they now have to try and combine both.
So a real challenge for everyone!!

But, as it is called "Annuel Super Cell Contest", your chance will come next year

(btw RCTtom: please do read some more than only the first post you mention you have read, to get an idea of the problems this contest causes!)

Edited by Emergo, 17 January 2006 - 11:00 PM.

[CoasterCrzy]

I apologize i do not think i can finish this one. I'm swamped with homework and i have a big end-of-the-semester quiz(s) coming Sorry you guys.

CCrzy

Edited by CoasterCrzy, 17 January 2006 - 11:15 PM.

[RCTtom]

^ Yeah.... such a pity RCTtom that you did/could not enter this one!!!
For in this contest there is a huge focus on the rides and on the layout of the park ( which I think is your big interest and specialty, although I don't know where I can find any work of you? )

But....architecture and scenery etc. will also be taken into account, so this one is a real challenge, as well for the "ride/park layout lovers" as for the "architecture-lovers", for I guess the park that was able to have the best combination of these two things makes quite a chance, meaning, I think, that if normally one only focusses on rides/layout, or one only focusses on "beauty/archy", they now have to try and combine both.
So a real challenge for everyone!!

But, as it is called "Annul Super Cell Contest", your chance will come next year

(btw RCTtom: please do read some more than only the first post you mention you have read, to get an idea of the problems this contest causes!)

I don't enter contests anymore. I think I got put off them when I had gotten last place in every single competition or contest I had entered in my past life. I think it crossed the line for me when I tried the RCT Olympics last year and now I'm glad I got last place on it. It has shown me that I'm not born to do competitions and never has been before. I thought about this and it helped me get through school much quicker than I usually do. I avoided all the embarassment I usually get by not entering competitions or contests and I'm really glad I didn't do them as I had time to finish my school work on time and it had boosted my grades up. I will continue to make theme parks and rollercoasters, but not for competitions just for fun. I will make up the time I had been absent last year because of this by being very active on here I promise to all of you.

[coastercrew]

Well, at least I had an excuss for not working on my park.

The 3 days of moving 6 people worth of stuff was just the beginning (actually 10 if you count my wife as 5, since she has as much junk as the rest of us combined )......

Then came the unpacking, finding the lost run-away cat for 3 days, arranging furniture, hanging pictures, the ordering of blinds, carpets, medicine cabinets, the installing of blinds and cabinets, hooking up all the electronics, hooking up the appliances, setting up the office, wiring the cable TV, changing addresses, the finding of lost mail, building a floor in the attic and moving the junk overflowing from the garage up there, all with xmas, new years, my wife's b-day, and a broken water pipe in between. Did I mention the unpacking? Oh yea, the unpacking and unpacking and unpacking.

OK, OK, after almost 5 weeks (Dec 13-Jan 14) of virtually no sizable progress on my cell park, I finally got some time on Sunday evening to again work on it. Yeah!

I've added some, well, beginner buildings in a few places around the park. No elaborate villages or structures that one would expect from a VP winner, but....... I guess you can say it's more like a 'real' park?

I also worked some more on my peep throughput, made some improvements, and should have some more numbers this coming weekend to share. For having 7 cells, I'm pretty pleased.

My biggest concern is that, being a Hatfield, I didn't plan for the archy and then on top of that I had to convert from 9 cells to 7 using the bulldozer, so I think I lost some of the "feel" that the park originally had.

I'm also struggling with "should I move my entrance or not". It looks just OK, but moving it would definitely improve on the park. I originally tried to move it when I bulldozed the two cells, but it (the scenerio editor) didn't save my rides and the guests could no longer get into the park even with the trainer.

Does anyone know how to move the entrance, still save my rides, and still allow guests to enter? I'm not sure whether I'll make such a drastic change this late in the game, especially since I still have more scenery/landscaping to do, but I guess maybe if I get the time.

Well, anyway, I hope others are making progress. And I'm hoping some of those peeps hidden in the closet might come out and share what they have...... just curious.

[Emergo]

@ RCTtom: yes, always coming last in contests must be very disappointing
So good that you nevertheless still have so much interest/fun in the game
And even better to hear that now your schoolwork is going so nicely!
For: school and RL are always far more important than any game

And for the "free" moments: wishing you all kinds of fun with the game.

@ Coastercrew: Unbelievable how amidst of moving houses/family and this endless unpacking (I know..., phew!) etc. you still are keeping this cell-park alife!

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with moving the actual entrance in the game (without going back to SE and losing all rides).

I do have some experience with resetting the entry points for the peeps and connect the entry-points to the map-edge (complicated, complicated, yes, but it can be done), so if someone else can tell you how to move the entrance and you still need the other things, you know where to find me.

And in the end: don't worry too much. Every time I test my park, things seem to have changed (flow of the peeps, nasty points, etc) and after every test I have a hundred ideas how to do this better/fix it etc, but I am also running out of time to make it as good as I want it..... (so I/you will have to do with what I can finish before the deadline )

Happy building... all(?)

[RCTtom]

@ RCTtom: yes, always coming last in contests must be very disappointing
So good that you nevertheless still have so much interest/fun in the game
And even better to hear that now your schoolwork is going so nicely!
For: school and RL are always far more important than any game

Yeah, I'm glad I lost the contest now. If I had won it, I may have carried on embarassing myself in contests I would have entered and would not have concentrated on my school work. I am very lucky that happened to me and although I still haven't won any competitions yet, it has made me concentrate on more important things than winning any contests. I will continue to build rides and make my guests happy, and I hope all of you will be happy on what I contribute here even if it's not the best thing in the world.

[coastercrew]

*** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING ***

I have discovered a critical bug in the game that ALL contestants and judges NEED to be aware of (actually RCTtom mentioned it earlier this week in Just How Real Are These Guests? - Post #32.

After completing most of my peep-friendly tweeks this past weekend, I decided that I better get hussling with adding my McCoy-friendly changes. So last night I was widing my boring one-tile wide paths in cell 2 with McCoy-friendly two-wide paths. About two hours later when I was finishing up my McCoy-friendly enhancements for this cell, I noticed that peeps were now ignoring one of my 'no entry' signs. I was like what is happening here? Are there some peeps programmed for ignorance? Well, actually, I already knew that, this was down right an oppositional disorder.

OK, OK, here's the details (sorry I'm at work, so I can't show a nice screen shot)....

GG#N
GG#N
S##N
GG#N
GG#N

G=grass, #=existing path tile, N=new path tile, S='no entry' sign (on this edge of tile, thus facing right).

I think that when I added the new 'N' path tiles, this caused the game to now allow peeps to ignore the 'no entry' sign.

I have not done any experiments to confirm that this was the cause, but I know that the sign was working at one time.

Now I deleted this 'no entry' sign and made a new one thinking that maybe the letters got worn off the sign from all the rain. But NO, those oppositional peeps kept right on walking right underneath it. I was like what? So I re-made this sign yet another time and still opposition/ignorance. Well, this section of path was one of my cell tricks, so no big deal, I'll just tweek my trick and be done with it. So I thought?

A few minutes later on the other side of the cell where I was adding some more McCoy friendly upgades, I again noticed oppositional peeps. What is going on here? Now I was getting real mad at these little dinks.

This again was a path that I had widened for them thar McCoys. I again tried to delete and re-make the 'no entry' sign, but again to no avail and this sign was a critical, "YOU CANNOT GO DIRECTLY TO THE NEXT CELL" sign. So this time I deleted both the sign and the path tile directly in front of the sign and re-made them. And behold, the peeps were again under control.

I don't have time to do a complete analysis of this bug until after the cell contest is over, since I'm way behind in my McCoy-friendly enhacnements. But with a little investigation, I can fully uncover the exact circumstances that lead to this bug.

Becky, It is EXTREMELY important for both the contestants and judges to completely understand this bug and make sure that it doesn't exist in anyone's park.

Edited by coastercrew, 20 January 2006 - 05:03 PM.

[Emergo]

So this time I deleted both the sign and the path tile directly in front of the sign and re-made them. And behold, the peeps were again under control.

I don't have time to do a complete analysis of this bug until after the cell contest is over, since I'm way behind in my McCoy-friendly enhacnements. But with a little investigation, I can fully uncover the exact circumstances that lead to this bug.

Coastercrew: like I told Rosie somewhere, it nearly always helps to redo the tiles on which the sign is placed (and the sign itself). As the peeps cannot actually read, the "no entry" sign is supposed to set a "no clearance" flag upon the tile where the peeps cannot go over. By adding path adjoining to the existing pathtiles, sometimes it seems to overwrite this "no clearance" flag on the existing tiles.

It does happen sometimes, but not always. Can be caused by the order in which you place the pathtiles, or can be a bug, have not investigated that either yet.

So it absolutely pays to always controll if the "no entry" signs work, and indeed, ESPECIALLY in the cell-contest !

[Todd Lee]

It's about time somebody got the discussion going in here!

I can't wait to see what others have done with their parks, as for mine, it's going to be a bit of a dissappointment for people.... I haven't worked on it for the past month!! My time is slim, with RL matters getting in the way. However, I will be turning my park in, I swear to that!! (unless of course I die before the contest deadline...)

I will also continue working on my park after the deadline, with ordinary paths though. I plan on finishing this thing and keepin' it!

[coastercrew]

Becky,

I have a few questions.....

One of the rules state, "Hacking will only be allowed on buildings and paths. The coasters, for obvious reasons, must not be built using hacks. "

1) I am assuming that it is OK for me to use the "renew" or "make new" all rides using a trainer prior to sending my park in? Otherwise my coasters would be considered ancient relics by now.

2) Since I am new to contests here at RCT2, I hope that I did not ASSume wrong in expecting that this contest forbids hacks on peep and staff behavior.

I mean, you did say, "This contest is basically Rollercoaster Tycoon 101."

So these two statements together imply to me that, it is AGAINST the rules to:

- Make all rides reliable.
- Make all peeps happy.
- Make all peeps barf intolerant.
- Make all peeps high energy.
- Make all peeps have a certain excitement, intensity, and nausiating rating.
- Make all peep not hungry nor thirsty.

I just want to clarify this rule, since I have gone to GREAT lengths to adhere to the RCT 101 basics of getting my park rating to a high level without the use of hacks.... that is, a good mix of rides, optimal use of handimen, mechanics, patrolmen, and entertainers, proper use and positioning of benches, garbage bins, restrooms, and first-aid stations, plenty of food and drink stalls, etc.

After much great effort, I have finally reach over 2400 guests with a park rating near 900 and have sustained this rating for over 10 years. For a 7 cell park and with what Emergo and I experienced early on with park rating plumetting after 4 years, I consider this pretty amasing.

I just don't want all of my efforts to be in vain, because of a rule mis-interpretation.

3) What time and time-zone, is the deadline this Sunday, Jan 29th? I will probably need every last minute Sunday evening to finish my McCoy enhancements.